Teen Spy
by SilverWolfe1
Summary: Liz guardian dies and finds out a secret that turns her life upside down
1. Meet Liz

Title: Teenage Spy   
  
Catergory: not really sure at the mo so why dont you give me an idea of who you think should hook up with Liz  
  
Disclaimer: sadly i own nothing remotely of the Roswell series or the book The Stormbreakers so please have mercy on my poor soul sueing me would only get you $5 if ya lucky   
  
Summary:Liz's guardian dies she founds her world turned upside down   
  
Note: Liz never grew up in Roswell not even America mmmhhhmmm she grew up in London but i myself have never been to either of these wicked countries i live in the Pacific ya know nice cool breeze ocean right smack dab in front of ya well anywho Liz is a bit taller too   
  
Prologue   
  
Liz Ortecho was awoken by the sound of the door bell her eyebrows scrunched together and her eyes jerked open but for a moment she stayed completely still lying on her back with her head resting on the pillow   
  
she heard a bedroom door open and the creak of wood as somebody went down stairs while the bell rang a second time   
  
she glanced over beside her where the time glared 3.02 a.m. in bright glowing red, there was a rattle as someone opened the locks of the front door   
  
she rolled out of her bed and walked over to the open window the moonlight spilled over her face Liz was fourteen with short dyed blood red hair and stood tall over most girls and guys her age with a body of an athlete and her olive tan skin her eyes brown and curious   
  
Liz looked out down where there was a police car parked outside and two men who were standing in the front door the porch light went on at the same time the door opened   
  
"Mrs Ortecho?"   
  
"no im the housekeeper what is it? whats happened?"   
  
"thie is the home of Mr Jeff Ortecho?"   
  
"yes"   
  
"i wonder if we could come in ........"   
  
and then Liz already knew from the way the police officers stood awkward and unhappy but she also knew from the tone of their voices, funeral voices the sort of voices people use when they come to tell you someone close to you has died   
  
she went to her door she could hear the two men talking own the hall but only some words reached her   
  
" ...............a car accident .........called the ambulance .......intensive care ...... nothing anyone could do ....so sorry"   
  
the next day Liz sat at the kitchen table trying to make sense of what happened her Uncle Jeff Orteco was dead driving home his car had been hit at a corner while turning and he had been killed almost instantly he hadn't been wearing his seat-belt the police said other wise he might have had a chance   
  
Liz thought of the man who was her only living relative for as long as she could remember she never knew her parents they had died in a plane crash a few weeks after she was born she had been brought up by her uncle Jeff and had spent most of her fourteen years in the same house in London   
  
but only now Liz realized just how little she knew about the man, a banker Jeff was always travelling a quiet private man who liked good wine, classical music, and books who didnt seem to have girlfriends of many friends for that matter   
  
he had kept himself fit never smoked and had dressed expensively but that wasn't a picture of life it was a thumbnail sketch   
  
"are you alright Liz?" a young women had asked she was in her late twenties with blonde curly hair with icy blue eyes and pail skin Tess Harding was Australian she had come to London as a student seven years ago rented a room in the house with some baby-sitting duties and had stayed to become housekeeper and one of Liz's closest friends   
  
Liz nodded "what do you think will happen?" she asked   
  
"what do you mean?"   
  
"to the house, to me to you"   
  
"i dunno" Tess shrugged "i guess Jeff will have made a will he'll have instructions"   
  
"maybe we should look in his office"   
  
"yes but not today Liz lets take one step at a time"   
  
Jeff's office was running full length of the house high at the top the only room that was always locked Liz had only been up there 4 times never on her own when she was younger she had fantasized that there might be something strange up there like maybe a time machine or a UFO but it was only an office with a desk a couple of filing cabinets, shevles full of papers and books   
  
bank stuff that what Jeff said Liz wanted to go up there now because it had never been allowed   
  
"the police said he wasn't wearing his seat-belt" Liz said turning to Tess   
  
she nodded "yeah thats what they said"   
  
"doesn't that seem strange to you? you know how careful he was he always wore his seat-belt he wouldn't even drive me round the corner without making me put mine on"   
  
Tess thought for a moment then shrugged   
  
"yes its strange" she said "but that must have been the way it was why would have the police have lied?" 


	2. Weird Encounters

Part 1   
  
the day dragged on Liz hadn't gone to school even though, secretly she had wanted to, she would have preferred to escape back into normal life the clange of bells the crowds of familiar faces   
  
instead of sitting there trapped inside the house but she had to be there for the visitors who came throughout the day one of who were from the bank   
  
"all of us at Royal & General are deeply shocked"   
  
he was in his thirties wearing a polyester suit with a tie he had the sort of face you forget even while you were looking at it introduced himself as Dan from personnal   
  
"but if theres anything we can do .........."   
  
"what will happen?" Liz asked   
  
"you dont have to worry" Dan said "the bank will take care of everything that's my job you leave everything to me"   
  
________________________________________________________________________________________________   
  
when the day of the funeral arrived Liz found herself dressed in black preparing to leave in a black car that had come from nowhere surrounded by people she had never seen or met   
  
a grave had been dug close to the lane that ran across the cemetery and as the service began a black Rolls-Royce pulled up the back door opened and a man got out Liz watched as he walked forward and stopped   
  
Liz shivered there was something about the man that made her skin crawl and yet he seemed ordinary to look at grey suit, grey hair, grey lips, grey eyes his face expressionless the eyes behind his square spectacles completely empty maybe thats what disturbed Liz   
  
whoever he was seemed to have less life than anyone in the cemetery above or below ground   
  
"that's Mr Pierce" the personnel whispered leaning to her   
  
"he's the chairman of the bank"   
  
Liz looked past Pierce and over to the Roll-Royce two more men had come with him they were wearing identical suits with sunglasses both watching the funeral with the same grim faces Liz looked back and forth at the men and Pierce   
  
had they really known Jeff Ortecho? why had she never met any of them before and why did she find it so difficult to believe that any of them really worked for a bank she turned her attention back to the service   
  
"...........a good man a patriotic man he will missed"   
  
the words struck Liz as odd, a patriotic man? that meant he loved his country but as far as knew Jeff Ortecho barely spent time in it she looked around ans saw Pierce making his way to her   
  
"you must be Liz my name is Alan Pierce your uncle often spoke of you"   
  
"thats funny" Liz said "he never mentioned you"   
  
the chairmans lips twitched briefly "we'll miss him he was a good man"   
  
"what was he good at? he never talked about his work"   
  
suddenly Dan was ther e"you uncle was the overseas finace manager Liz"he said   
  
"he was responsible for our foreign branches you must have known that"   
  
"i know he travelled a lot Liz said :and i know he was very careful about things like seat-belt"   
  
"well sadly he wasnt careful enough" Pierce's eyes focused on Liz'z own   
  
she felt like she was pinned down like an insect under a microscope "i hope we meet again" he said   
  
while tapping a finger on his face "yes.........." then turned and went to his car   
  
as he was getting into the car Liz saw the driver leaning across to open the back door and his jacket fell open revealing not only his shirt underneath he was wearing a leather holster with an automatic pistol strapped inside Liz saw it even as the man realizing what happened   
  
quickly straightened up and pulled his jackey across his cchest Pierce had seen it too he turned back and looked at Liz again she saw some emotion slither across his face then got in the car takingoff   
  
a gun at a funeral? why? why would bank managers carry guns   
  
"lets get out of here" Tess said coming to her side   
  
"cemeteries give me the creeps"   
  
"yes and quite a few creeps have turned up" Liz muttered   
  
as they made their way home turning into their street Liz noticed a removals van parked outsie their house the words STRYKER & SON on its side   
  
"what's that doing........?" Liz began   
  
at the same moment the van shot off the wheels skidding on the road Liz said nothing as Tess unlocked the door and let them in but while she went into the kitchen to make some tea Liz looked quickly ound the house a letter   
  
that had been on the hall table now lay on the floor a door that had been half-open was now closed tiny details but Liz's eyes missed nothing somebody had been in the house she was sure of it   
  
she wasn't certain until she got to the top floor the door to the office which was always, always had been losked was unlocked now Liz opened it and went in. the room was empty Jeff Ortecho was gone and now so had everything else   
  
anything that might have told her about the dead mans work had been taken   
  
"Liz .....!" Tess called   
  
Liz took one last look around the forbidden room wondering about the man who once worked there then closed the door and went back downstairs   
  
________________________________________________________________________________________________   
  
with Hamersmith Bridge just ahead of her Liz left the river and swung her bike through the lights and down the hill towards Brookland School the bike was a Condor Junior Roadracer custom-built for her on her twelveth   
  
birthday it was a teenagers bike   
  
with cut-down Reynolds 531 frame but the wheels were full-sized so she could ride at speed with hardly any rolling resistance she spun past a Mini and cut through the school gates   
  
she double-locked it in the shed and went into yard Brookland was new comprehensive of red brick and glass modern and ugly Liz could have gone to any of the smart privates schools around the area but her uncle had decided to send her here he said it would be more of a challenge   
  
the first lesson of the day was maths when Liz walked into the classroom the teacher Mr Donovan was already chalking up a complicated equation on the board as Liz took her plac near the back wondering how she was going to get through the lesson how could she possibly think of algebra when there were so many   
  
other questions churning through her mind the gun at the fueral, the way Pierce had looked at her, the van with STRYKER & SON written on the side, the empty office, and the biggest question of all the one detail that refused to go away the seat-belt but of course he had   
  
Jeff Ortecho had never been one to give lectures he had always said Liz should make up her own mind about things but he'd this thing about seat-belts the more Lis thought about it the less she believed it a collision going round a corner   
  
sundenly she wished she could see the car at least the wreckage would tell her the truth that the accident had really happened Jeff Ortecho really died that way   
  
"Liz?"   
  
Liz looked up and realized everyone was staring at her Mr Donovan had just asked her something she quickly svanned the blackboard taking in the figures   
  
"yes sir" she said "x equals seven and y is fifteen"   
  
the maths teacher sighed "yes Liz you're absolutely right but actually i was just asking you to open the window"   
  
somehow she managed to get through the day but by the final bell her mind was made up while everyone else streamed out she made her way to the secretary's office and burrowed a copy of the yellow pages   
  
"what are you lookind for?" the secretary asked Jane Bedfordshire was a young women in her twenties and had always had a soft spot for Liz   
  
"Breakers yard....." Liz flicked through the pages "if a car got smashed up near Foxlaw Street they'd take it somewhere near wouldn't they?"   
  
"i suppose so"   
  
"here......" Liz had found the yards listed under 'Car Dismantlers' but there were dozens of them fighting for attention over four pages   
  
"is this for a school project?" the secretary knew Liz had lost a relative but not how   
  
"sort of....." Liz was reading the adresses but they told her nothing   
  
"this one's quite near Foxlaw Street" Miss Bedfordshire pointed at the corner page   
  
"Wait!" Liz tugged the book towards her and looked at the entry underneath the one the secretary had chosen   
  
J.B STRYKER it said Liz recognized the name J.B Stryker she thought back to the van she had seen outside her house on the day on the funeral STRYKER & SON of course it might be a coincidence but it was still somewhere to start she closed the book   
  
"see ya later Miss Bedfordshire"   
  
"be careful how you go" the secretary watched Liz leave wondering why she had said that maybe it was just her eyes dark and serious but there was something dangerous there then the telephone rang and she forgot her as she went back to work 


	3. To Be or Not To Be

Part 2   
  
J.B Strykers was a square of wasteland behind the railway tracks running out of Waterloo Station the area was enclosed by a high brick wall topped with broken glass and razor wire, two wooden gates hung open and from the other side of the road Liz could see a shed   
  
with a security window and beyond it tottering piles of dead and broken cars everything of values had been stripped away and only the rusting bodies remained heaped one on top of the other waiting to be fed into the crusher   
  
there was a guard sitting in the shed reading the Sun in the distance a crane coughed into life then roared down on the battered Ford Mondeo its metal claw smashing through the window to scoop up the vehicle and carry it away   
  
a telephone rang somewhere in the shed and the guard turned around to answer it that was enough for Liz holding her bike and wheeling it along beside her she sprinted through the gates   
  
she found herself surrounded by dirt and debris the smell of diesel was thick in the air and the roar of engines was deafening Liz watched was a crane swooped down on another one of the cars seizing it in a metallic grip and dropped it into the crusher   
  
for a moment the car rested on a pair of shelves then the shelves lifted up toppling the car over and down into a trough, the operator - sitting in a glass cabin at one end of the crusher - pressed a button and there was a great belch of black smoke   
  
the shelves closed in on the car like a monster insect folding in its wings there was a grinding sound as the car was crushed until it was no bigger then a rolled-up carpet the operator threw a gear and the car was squeezed out like mettalic toothpaste being chopped up   
  
by a hidden blade the slicies tumbled on to the ground leaving her bike propped against the wall Liz ran further into the yard crouching down behind the wrecks with the din from the machines there was no chance that anyone   
  
would hear her but she was still afraid of being seen she stopped to catch her breath drawing a grimy hand across her face her eyes were watering from the diesel fumes the air was filthy as the ground beneath her   
  
she was beginning to regret coming - but then she saw it her uncles BMW was parked a few metres away seperated from the other cars at first glance it looked absolutely fine the metallic silver bodywork not even scratched certainly there was no way this car could have been   
  
involved in a fatal collision with a lorry or anything else but it was her uncles car Liz recognized the number plate she hurried closer and it was then she saw that the car was damaged after all the windscreen had been smashed along with all the windows   
  
on one side Liz made her way round the bonnet she reached the other side and froze Jeff Ortecho hadn't died in any accident what had killed him was plain to see - even to someone   
  
who had never seen such a thing before a spray of bullets had caught the car full on the drivers side shattering the front tyre, then smashing the windscreen and side windows and punching into the side panels Liz ran her fingers over the holes   
  
the metal felt cold against her flesh she opened the door and looked inside the front seats pale leather, were strewn with fragments of broken glass and stained with oatches of dark brown she didnt need to ask what the stains were   
  
then she imagined she could see everything a flash of the machine-gun the bullets ripping into the car Jeff Ortecho jerking in the drivers seat, why would they want to kill a bank manager? she thought   
  
Liz thought why had the murder been covered up? it was the police who had brought the news so they must be part of it had they deliberately lied? none of it made sense   
  
"you should have got rid of it two days ago do it now"   
  
the machines must have stopped for a moment if there hadn't been a sudden lull Liz would never have heard the men coming quickly she looked across the steering-wheel and out the other side there were two of them both dressed in loose-fitting overalls   
  
Liz had a feeling she'd seen them before at the funeral one of them was the driver the man she had seen with the gun she was sure of it who ever they were, they were only a few paces away from the car talking in low voices   
  
another few more steps and they would be there without thinking Liz threw herself into the only place avaliable inside the car itself using her foot she hooked the door and closed it at the same time she became aware that the machines had started again and she could   
  
no longer hear the men she didnt dare look up a shadow fell across the window as the two men passed but then they were gone. she was safe.   
  
then something hit the BMW with such force that Liz cried out her whole body caught in a massive shock wave   
  
that tore her away from the steering-wheel and threw her helplessly into the back at the same time the roof buckled and three huge metal fingers tore through the skin of the car like a fork through a eggshell trailing dust and sunlight   
  
one finger grazed the side of her head - any closer and it would have cracked her skull Liz yelled as blood trickled over her eye she tried to move then was jerked back a second time as the car was yanked off the ground and titled high up in the air   
  
she couldn't see, she couldn't move, but her stomach lurched as the car swung in an arc the metal grinding and the light spinning it had been picked up by the crane it was going to be put inside the crusher with her inside..........!   
  
hehe TBC........  
  
should i continue???  
  
*thinks* i might give it up *thinks some more* or not......... :P 


	4. Close Calls

she tried to raise herself up to punch through the windows but the claw of the crane had already flattened the roof pinning her left leg perhaps even breaking it she could feel nothing she lifted a hand and managed to pound on the back window, but she coudn't break the glass and even if the workmen were staring at the BMW they would never see anything moving inside   
  
her short flight across the breakers yard ended with a bone-shattering crash as the crane deposited the car on the iron shelves of the crusher Liz tried to fight back sickness and despair and think of what to do   
  
she had seen a car being processed only a few minutes before any moment now the operator would send the car tipping into the coffin-shape trough the machine was a Lefort Shear, slow motion guillotine at the press of a button, the two wings would close on the car   
  
with a joint pressure of five hundred tonnes the car with Liz inside it would be crushed beyond recognition and the broken metal - and flesh - would then be chopped into sections nobody would ever know what had happened   
  
she tried with all her might to free herself but the roof was too low her leg and part of her back were trapped then her whole world tilted and she felt herself falling into darkness the shelves had lifted. the BMW slid to one side and fell the few metres into the trough   
  
Liz felt the metalwork collapsing all around her the back window exploded the glass showered around her head, dust and diesel fumes punching into her nose and eyes there was hardly any daylight now but looking out the back she could see the huge steel head of the piston that would push what was left of the car through the exit hole on the other side   
  
the engine tone of the Lefort Shear changed as it prepared for the final act the metal wings shuddered in a few seconds time the two of them would meet crumpling the BMW like a paper bag   
  
Liz pulled with all her strength and was astonished when her leg came free it took her perhaps a second - one precious second - to work out what had happened when the car had fallen into the trough it had landed on its side the roof had buckled again .......enough to free her   
  
her hands scrabbled for the door - but of course that was useless the doors were too bent they would never open. the back window! with the glass gone she could crawl through the frame but only if she moved fast.....   
  
the wings began to move, the BMW screamed as two walls of solid steel relentlessly crushed it glass shattered one wheel axles snapped with the sound of a thunderbolt the darkness closed in. Liz grabbed hold of what was left of the back seat   
  
ahead of her she could see a single triangle of light shrinking faster and faster with all her strength she surged forward finding some sort of purchase on the gear column she could feel the weight of the walls pressing down on her   
  
behind her the car was no longer a car but a fist of some hideous monster snatching at the insect that it had become, her shoulders passed through the triangle out into the light but her legs were still inside if her foot snagged on something she would be squeezed into two pieces Liz yelled out loud and jerked her knee forward her legs came clear then her feet but at the last moment her shoe caught on the closing triangle and dissapeared back into the car   
  
Liz imagined she heard the sound of the leather being squashed but that was impossible clinging to the black oily surface of the observation platform at the back of the crusher she dragged herself clear and managed to stand up   
  
she found herself face to face with a man so fat that he could barely fit into the small cabin of the crusher the man's stomach was pressed against the glass his shoulders squeezed into the corners, a cigerette dangled on his lower lip as his mouth fell open and his eyes stared   
  
in front of him was a girl in rags of what had once been a school uniform a whole sleeve had been torn off and her arm streaked with blood and oil, hung limpl by her side by her side by the time the operator had taken all this in and came to his senses and turned the machine off Liz was goneshe slambered down the side of the crusher landing on one foot that still had a shoe she was aware now of pieces of jagged metal lying everywhere if she wasn't careful she would cut the other foot open   
  
her bicycle was where she had left it leaning against the wall and gingerly half-hopping she made for it, behind her she heard the cabin crusher open and a man's voice call out raising the alarm at the same time a second man ran forward stopping between Liz and her bike it was the driver the man she had seen at the funeral his face twisted into a hostile frown was curiously ugly; greasy hair, watery eyes, pale, lifeless skin   
  
"what do you think....!" he began his hand slid into his jacket Liz remembered the gun and instantly without even thinking swung into action   
  
she had learned karate when she was six years old one afternoon with no explanation Jeff Ortecho had taken her to a local club for her first lesson and she had been going there once a week ever since. over the years she had passed through the various Kyu - student - grades   
  
but it was only the year before that she had became a first grade Dan, a black belt when she had arrived at Brookland School her looks and accent had quickly brought her attention of the school bullies; three hulking sixteen-year-olds   
  
they had cornered her once behind the bike shed the encounter had lasted less than a minute and after it one of the bullies had left Brookland and the other two had never troubled anyone anyone again   
  
now Liz brought up one leg twisted her body round and lashed out the back kick - ushiro-geri - is said to be the most lethal in karate her foot powered into the man's abdomen with such force that he didnt have time to cry out his eyes bulged and his mouth half-opened   
  
in suprise then with his hand still halfway into his jacket he crumpled to the ground Liz jumped over him, snatched up her bike and swung herself on it in the distance a third man was running towards her   
  
she heard the single word "Stop!" called out then there was a crack and a bullet whipped past Liz gripped the handle bars and pedaled as hard as she could the bike shot forward over the rubble and out through the gates she took one look over her shoulder nobody followed her   
  
with one shoe on and one shoe off her clothes in rags and her body streaked with blood and oil   
  
Liz knew she must look a strange sight but then she thought back to her last seconds inside the crusher and sighed in relief. she could have been looking a lot worse 


End file.
